Friday, 20 March 2015

Over the years our use of incense in live rituals has
often been noted, the ingredients vary, initially the recipe was based on one
to invoke Beleth, a demon from the Goetia, as He is a great patron of the arte
of musick: “ Bileth is a great king and a
terrible, riding on a pale horsse, before whome go trumpets, and all kind of
melodious musicke”. Frankincense was a
major ingredient. This was to be used in a church, and I also obtained some
pigs blood (not purely gathered in any sense, but as desecration/insult was the
object, no matter) which was duly spat upon the altar. I think what I realised was
that what began as a simple ‘dirty’ gesture, became more a re-consecration, its
own holiness. I instinctively loved the ‘red crystal’ scent of frankincense,
pure and resinous, yet with an indescribable tang of animal musk underneath,
and this led to the use of two other ingredients that share this quality, red
amber and dragons blood. Also our own scents, and those of the animals that we
love and belong to (Felis, and Mustiladae) share this ‘flux of unclean cat’
quality, simply we are drawn to them, and them to us.

And it was in this time
(2008) that Samantha mixed her ‘Plenilune’ incense, containing her blood, a
small amount of which has always been added to the incense used at shows. So as
ingredients are added, there has always been a residue from the previous batch,
providing a continuity, and as the percent of the original declines, it becomes
homeopathic, less obvious, but possibly more powerful,a microcosm that can
effect change in the macrocosm, as above, so below (and again this links to the
‘temple within a temple’, maps of Gondal, model villages, baby train layouts, the
camera obscura in Powell and Pressburgers ‘a matter of life and death’ (and also
their creation of ‘tibet’ in black narcissuss) all obsessive (re)creations of
dream kingdoms via symbol, model, ‘token’.)

Further inspiration came from these
observations, by the Great Beast, from 777:

For he not only suggests, but shows his
way of being suggested ‘upon’ by external stimuli. The opoponax we use came
from Mama Creepy in Tennessee, resembles a big bag full of meteoric ore/desert
waste and has become a major ingredient in the Musick Ritual. We shall be
mixing a big batch soon, using all of the above, and some other choice
ingredients (and trace elements), ready for our show, a Cold Spring special
night, with Tunnels of Ah, Iron Fist of the Sun and Khost at the Deaf
Institute, Manchester on July 23rd, and to be included as an extra
ingredient for the release of a special Stiff Opposition Cdr, entitled
‘Military Temples’ which will be available here, and nowhere else, in the next
few weeks. Thank you…